With "Iron Man 2" due this summer and further set-up films "Thor" and "Captain America" on their way in 2011, several of the pieces of hero team-up film "The Avengers" are beginning to come together – including a possible director.

The Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex blog reported that Marvel Studios "insiders" confirmed that Joss Whedon is on a "short-list" for the director's chair of the summer 2012 tent-pole, after online reports broke last week.

However, a Marvel source told Access Hollywood that the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "Dollhouse" creator is on a short-list for "Runaways" – a youth-oriented, lesser-known Marvel property that's also in feature film development, and happens to be a series for which Whedon himself wrote for a time. The source did not comment on "The Avengers" reports.

When reached by Access, Marvel reps would not comment on the writer-director's possible connection to either film.